Alleged meth lab operator denied bail reduction

By peter e. bortner
(Staff Writer)
/
Published: April 18, 2011

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A Schuylkill County judge on Friday declined to reduce bail for one of five people charged with operating a meth lab in Rush Township, but did lower it for the man charged with robbing the Rite-Aid pharmacy in Shenandoah.

Jeremy A. Snyder, 29, of Quakake, must remain in prison until he can post $4,000, or 10 percent, of his $40,000 percentage bail, Judge Charles M. Miller ruled.

Snyder is charged with four counts of conspiracy, three of possession of red phosphorous, two of manufacture of a controlled substance and one of possession of drug paraphernalia. Rush Township police charged him, and four other people, with operating the lab and making the methamphetamine on March 19 as the result of a raid on Snyder's 62 Heckman Road home.

Snyder had asked Miller to reduce his bail to $500 percentage, which would have required him to post only $50, but Miller accepted the argument of Assistant District Attorney Douglas J. Taglieri that Snyder's record does not justify a reduction.

When cross-examined by Taglieri, Snyder said he had drug- and assault-related convictions on his record.

Snyder pleaded guilty on Aug. 22, 2006, to acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, which Tamaqua police charged him with doing on March 3, 2006, in the borough. Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin placed him on probation for 23 months and ordered him to pay costs and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.

He then pleaded guilty on march 18, 2010, to simple assault, harassment and recklessly endangering another person, which West Penn Township police charged him with doing on Sept. 19, 2009, in the township. President Judge William E. Baldwin sentenced him to 181 days to 23 months in prison and 23 months consecutive probation, and payment of costs, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $6,169.27 restitution.

In the other case, Miller reduced the bail of Michael C. Garvey, 32, of Shenandoah, to $25,000 percentage from $100,000 straight cash. Garvey has posted the required $2,500 and is free pending further court action.

"The defendant is not a flight risk," Miller said in granting the reduction.

Miller did set other conditions on Garvey's bail: the defendant must live with his father, Michael J. Garvey, in Shenandoah; not drink alcohol or use drugs; submit to random drug testing; not leave Pennsylvania without permission, enroll in intensive outpatient treatment or a halfway house, seek employment; and have no contact with the Rite-Aid and Redner's stores in Shenandoah.

Shenandoah police charged the younger Garvey with three counts of robbery and one each of theft, receiving stolen property, possession of a weapon and recklessly endangering another person. They allege he used a BB gun to rob the Rite-Aid store at 15 S. Main St. on Feb. 18.

The younger Garvey testified he surrendered voluntarily to police after spending time in rehabilitation, and that he has not used drugs since then.

pbortner@republicanherald.com

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